By Hader Glang & Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY
Two German hostages who an al-Qaeda-linked militant group in the southern Philippines had threatened to execute arrived Saturday at the German Embassy in Manila following their release the night before.
Philippine military spokesperson Major Gen. Domingo Tutaan told reporters in a televised interview, "The two German nationals arrived at [Villamor Air Base] at 6.45 a.m. today. The embassy of Germany has made arrangements for this and has taken custody of them."
Stefan Viktor Okonek, 74, and his wife Henrike Dielen, 55, were seized on their yacht off the coast of the Philippines’ southern Palawan Island in April.
A spokesperson from the Abu Sayyaf group -- who identified himself as Abu Rami -- told a local Philippines radio station that the group would behead Okonek at 15.00 local time in an undisclosed jungle area of Sulu province if Germany did not pay a Php250 million ($5.5 million) ransom and cease support for the United States-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria.
Following their release Friday night, the couple was found at a checkpoint in Patikul town, according to local station Radio Mindanao Network. After undergoing a medical checkup on the island of Jolo, they were transferred by the navy to a military hospital in Zamboanga City for additional medical attention before arriving in capital Manila.
At a Malacanang Palace press conference Saturday, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. told journalists that government security forces will “continue efforts to stem the tide of criminality perpetrated by bandit elements.”
"There is no change in the 'no ransom' policy of the government," he said in a statement.
The Abu Sayyaf, however, claimed the night before that the hostages were released after the ransom was paid.
"We have freed the Germans. We have received the ransom in full we had been demanding so we did not kill one of the Germans," Abu Rami had told Radio Mindanao network around 20.50 Friday local time (15.50 Turkish Time) Friday -- without indicating who had paid it.
Regarding the ransom, army spokesperson Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc told reporters Saturday, "He [Abu Rami] can claim that... that may be propaganda."
"We put pressure on them... If anyone paid, we don’t [know] from the side of the Germans. What's definite is that we did not negotiate with them," he added.
Stressing that security forces would not let up in their ongoing law enforcement operations against Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu, Cabunoc said an encounter might take place at any time as government troops are in pursuit.
He added that recent deployments were aimed at rescuing not only the German couple, but ten other hostages believed to be held captive in the region.
The Abu Sayyaf militant group is still holding European birdwatchers Elwold Horn and Lorenzo Vinciguerra who were snatched in Tawi-Tawi in February 2012, as well as a Filipino Chinese businesswoman and her daughter seized in Isabela City, Basilan province sometime in May 2014.
The German foreign ministry spokesperson released a press statement saying, “We thank the government of the Philippines for their close collaboration, undertaken with full confidence."
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, later declaring the territories under its control an Islamic "caliphate."
The U.S. and its Arab allies began bombing ISIL targets inside Syria in late September, after conducting airstrikes in Iraq since August.
www.aa.com.tr/en
